Matthew Wolak

Cahaba Lilly Inspection Team
#rareplants #nativeplants

Time to shellebrate #WorldTurtleDay! 🐢 Today, we’re shining a spotlight on two of our shelled superstars with very different tastes! Meet our endangered black-breasted leaf turtle enjoying a favorite delicacy, liver! And a box turtle named Mover savors a wriggly earthworm snack.

#booksky

This is the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Hatchling yellow bellied slider basking on a log in a pond

Fieldwork Friday 🐢 Wish this itty bitty was in a trap, but we didn't mind watching it while measuring and marking many of its friends

Information Is the Antidote to Repression Resources for fighting for academic freedom.

Resources for anyone (though intended for Academics) about legal help, privacy, digital security and protection from harrassment academicfreedomontheline.substack.com/p/informatio...

People know this is illegal, right? Super illegal.

“a [federal] employee may not solicit or accept a gift given because of his official position or from a prohibited source, including anyone who has interests that may be substantially affected by the performance of an employee’s official duties.”

Sweet bunny, cause it's been a rough week/5 months

Gray rat snake just above Wren's nest...

Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in Congressional redistricting, judges rule The court-ordered map, used in the 2024 elections, resulted in Alabama electing two Black representatives to Congress for the first time in history.

Thanks to the advocacy of Black Alabamians and organizations like @allontheline.bsky.social, Black voters in Alabama will continue voting in fair congressional districts that allow them to elect candidates of their choice. This is a win for Alabama, and proof that progress is possible.

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

www.science.org/content/arti...

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

"WE'VE ARRANGED A society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don't know anything about it?" "Science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along."

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

There is still a few days to apply to this PhD offer! Come enjoy Paris and the "Jardin des Plantes" at the heart of it, while working on exciting science!

White House dismisses authors of major climate report The Trump administration dismissed all the scientists working on the next National Climate Assessment. The report is the most comprehensive source of information about climate change in the U.S.

"The assessment is widely used by everyone from city planners to farmers to judges...Congress requires that the National Climate Assessment come out every four years."
www.npr.org/2025/04/29/n...

Donald Trump's approval rating takes a hit as he reaches 100 days: New polls The president is nearing 100 days of his second term, but voters are expressing discontent with his approach to a range of issues.

Current Presidential approval is 39% (+/-2%) and 41% (+/- 2.9%) according to 2 different polls. In other words: lowest EVER since the 1940s-1950s
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

Tell Etsy, Reddit, Tinder & Duolingo: Stop Feeding Surveillance Tech ShadowDragon is using data from sites like Etsy, Reddit, Tinder & Duolingo for U.S. government surveillance. Sign Mozilla’s petition to demand stronger privacy protections and block shady surveillance...

foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns...

Ladies. It's time!

Alma Hayden Virtual exhibit about former Director of the Spectrophotometry Branch, Alma Hayden

Marginalized Black chemist 🧪Alma LeVant Hayden got a masters at Howard U, then became a chemist/spectroscopist at the FDA, ultimately exposing a Yugoslavian imported “medication” Krebiozen as fraud in the early 1960s, setting a standard for analytical chemistry of drugs. www.fda.gov/about-fda/fd...

Two turtle decoy partially submerged in a pond, attached to PIT tag readers mounted on either end of a 2 meter long PVC pipe

🐢 Deployed our turtle decoy/PIT tag reader for a day of trialing our sexual selection methodology! Felt a bit like a Dateline/Chris Hansen "To Catch a Predator" episode 😬

Updates on NSF Priorities

This is bad.

Read the updates.

www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

Wish that you spent your Friday doing something besides checking if TikTok was banned or not?

Try out @skylight.social — a video app built upon the same open network as Bluesky. You can login with your Bluesky account, and all of your followers seamlessly come with you.

Cutting federal grants for scientific research could threaten local economy Federal grants are vital to some specific research projects, education programs and jobs at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Local news interviewed today about the cuts in science funding. www.fox10tv.com/2025/03/11/c...
#science #standupforscience #discovery
🧪

Dr. Lucky Tran at the NYC Stand Up For Science rally wearing at mask and holding a sign that says “When you mess with science, be prepared for a reaction!”

When you mess with science, be prepared for a reaction! #standupforscience @standupforscience.bsky.social

YouTube video by SXSW Bluesky's CEO on the Future of Social Media | SXSW LIVE

Every few years, we sign up for yet another platform just to keep in touch with our friends. Private platforms have locked users in for too long, causing a lack of innovation & competition in social media.

Bluesky aims to fundamentally change this.

Live in 20 min with @jay.bsky.team:

But there is no energy emergency—the U.S. is the world’s top oil & gas producer. This is a power grab to roll back protections.

❤️

Musk’s status as a “special government employee” limits him to 130 days in the executive branch. However, despite working daily—documented by his own X posts—they claim he only works one day a week, effectively stretching his limit to 130 weeks. This needs to be brought to Congress—please share.

Based on what is happening in other agencies, at least we got some exceptions.

I heard that Bureau of Reclamation can’t travel— even their construction teams who ensure critical infrastructure (think dams) remains safe.

We need you all to keep making calls, protesting, and supporting.

#Resist

NSF fact sheet

The National Science Foundation benefits communities in every state.